The water line improvements and upgrades to the south water treatment plant only hold one more step before being approved after Tuesday night’s Stuttgart City Council meeting. The two projects, expected to cost $2,858,557.92 and $1,019,605 respectively, will now need approval from USDA Rural Development.

“Rural Development has indicated they will,” Charles Summerford, with Summerford Engineering, said. “I have been told they have plans to approve it.”

The waterline improvements to the north side of Stuttgart will replace all galvanized 2-inch lines and under. The bids for the project were taken Oct. 25 with Hargan Construction Co, Inc., of Batesville having the lowest bid.

“The Hargan firm and owner have been involved in construction in the State of Arkansas and have previously bid projects in Stuttgart unsuccessfully in the past, but on this project he was the low bidder,” Summerford said in a letter to the Council. “They are easy to work with and will do a good job with the work.”

The bid was for $1,019,605.

The south side has already received work to its galvanized pipes. The work at this time is over 50 percent complete. According to Tommy Lawson, director of Stuttgart Municipal Waterworks, the completed work so far has saved the city approximately 200,000 gallons of unaccounted for water per month.

The second resolution, 2012-9, was for the upgrades to the south water treatment plant.

The department received only one bid, which led them to seek other sources.

“We were disappointed so we contacted 12 other potential bidders, in addition to advertising in the state wide publication,” Summerford said.

But the one bid held to be the only source. It came from On-Line Construction, Inc., of Hot Springs for $2,858,557, which was $122,000 above the estimate. Although, on the previous bid, the department saved money with the bid coming in under estimate, so after both, approximately $8,000 will be left of the bond money.

“I have personally known Mr. Dave Strange, the owner, for about 40 years. It is my opinion that he and his company have the wherewithal to complete the project within the guidelines of the specifications on time. I also know Mr. Strange to be a man of integrity,” Summerford said.